Boosting your confidence levels and self-esteem makes you more marketable in the future and increases your earning potential. You become a person, others want to get to know. What it requires, is to embrace change. Change within yourself.

Change is inevitable. It happens with or without your permission. Nothing really stays the same for very long and the ability to adapt to change quickly and grow with confidence, gives you the edge.

The majority of people put a lot of their energy into creating certainty, security and a sense of being in control. This causes you to sabotage your personal growth, earning potential and happiness. It’s your comfort zone that holds you back. Everything you’ve ever wanted in life lies beyond your comfort zone.

When you become stubborn and inflexible, you don’t feel any passion in your life. Negative thoughts take over and before long, your self-esteem suffers, your confidence levels are depleted, and life becomes meaningless.

Sometimes you really want to bring about positive changes in your life but don’t know how. Here are some killer ways to increase your self-confidence and self-esteem.

1. Join a local toastmasters club

Most people would rather die than speak in public. It takes courage and a step outside your comfort zone. Once you learn to speak in public, your confidence levels will go through the roof.

Toastmasters International has been around for many years and has a fine reputation for developing accomplished speakers and apart from a small joining fee, attending meetings is free.

Learning to speak in public in a safe and supportive environment will over time boost your confidence levels. Not only will toastmasters teach you how to communicate well, this skill will boost your confidence levels and help market yourself in the future. You will gain the confidence to speak up in meetings, give presentations, network with like-minded people and increase your chances of being promoted or landing a new job in an interview.

“The most courageous act is to think for yourself. Aloud.”- Coco Chanel

2. Take the Dale Carnegie Course in Human Relations.

Dale Carnegie is the master of teaching effective human relations. Apart from confidence building, you learn how to communicate with people from all walks of life.

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie

In the famous Dale Carnegie Course, you learn 30 principles on how to get along with others, how to influence others and how to lead others. Not only do you gain confidence in yourself, you develop the ability to talk to anyone, anywhere and build instance rapport, even with people who are not like you. As a result, your personal and professional relationships improve and the skills you learn are transferable into any walk of life.

3. Dress well

What you wear can have a big impact on your confidence levels. When you feel confident, you perform better in the workplace and in life in general.

There is nothing like feeling like you look good to boost your self-confidence and self-esteem. This is not about power dressing or buying designer clothes. This is about knowing your body type and learning what shapes, styles and colors suit you. Play to your strengths and highlight your best features.

“No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.” – Regina Brett

Dressing well does not need to cost a fortune. A few classic pieces can be made more appealing through a well-chosen scarf, tie, top or other accessories. Don’t get hooked into the fashion of the day – classic is always well received and long lasting.

4. Grab a daily dose of motivation

Bathing doesn’t last forever and neither does motivation which is why it is recommended daily.

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

Motivation is the driving force behind all achievement. With achievement comes a boost in confidence levels. With a boost in confidence levels, there is a desire to repeat confident behavior.

Motivation also leads to improved performance because your needs and desires both have a strong impact on your behavior. It keeps you positive and goal oriented. With positive energy, you receive positive outcomes.

Buy a motivational calendar and hang it on your wall where you will receive a motivational message every day. Subscribe to a motivational website and receive a motivational quote on your smart phone or email every day. Buy a motivational book and leave it by your bedside to look through every night and morning. Going to sleep and awaking with motivational sayings and quotes instantly improves your mood and attitude for the day.

5. Practice positive affirmations

You have an inner voice, you know the one, the chatterbox that lives inside your head. How you talk to yourself, reaffirms what you intrinsically believe. Believe you will succeed and you will. Believe you will fail and you will. Your self-talk are affirmations anyway so why not make them work for you instead of against you.

What destroys your confidence and self-esteem are the negative thoughts that live in your subconscious. Positive affirmations are a powerful way to kill negative thoughts. Self esteem along with confidence is one of the keys to success. By clearing out the negative blockers in your subconscious mind, you are well on the way to improving your confidence levels.

Always state affirmations in the positive and in the present tense as if they are already happening and are true. You don’t have to believe them at first, constantly repeating them becomes your new reality of becoming more self-confident over time. In other words, fake it till you make it!

6. Read uplifting books

You are a product of the people you hang out with and the books you read.

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reading inspirational stories, like motivational quotes do wonders for your self-esteem and confidence levels. Why? Because you are never alone in your struggles. Others too have struggles and have found ways to overcome them. While you are not them, their stories give you hope and faith that you too can find a way through your own struggles and prevail.

7. Surround yourself with positive people

Positivity is contagious. So is negativity.

“It’s your attitude that determines your altitude. “

When you hang out with positive people, their energy rubs off on you. It gives your subconscious mind a boost because instead of feeding it with the moans, groans and whining of negative people who won’t help themselves, you become filled with positive energy and thoughts to instantly boost your self-esteem. You begin to see solutions instead of problems and you before long you become goal oriented and begin to create the future you want not work for someone else’s goals.

8. Be kind and generous

Being kind and generous is a fantastic way to improve your self-image and self-esteem. You begin to feel good about yourself and be seen as a good person. This works wonders for your self-confidence because you begin to like yourself, who you are and what you do. It’s also the law of reciprocity, what you give out comes back to you. Suddenly others see you as a person they want to know.

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Elliot

9. Be prepared.

When you prepare yourself, you immediately gain an advantage over someone else who is not prepared.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. A key to self-confidence is preparation.” – Arthur Ashe

A lack of self-confidence often comes from being ill prepared be it a speech, presentation, interview, asking someone out on a date or even taking an exam. The better prepared you are, the more confident you will feel.

10. Be true to your values

Know yourself and what you stand for.

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” Alexander Hamilton

Defining your values and sticking to them gives you a moral compass to base what you are prepared to take and what you are not prepared to put up with. A great cause of conflict is when you involve yourself in activities that are not true to your values or involve yourself with other people where you values are misaligned.

Being true to your values increases your self-worth and self-esteem because you begin to back yourself and stand by your beliefs. Your values become your guiding compass in life. You make better choices and with better choices you receive quality outcomes. Quality outcomes boost your self-esteem and confidence levels.

11. Keep learning

Feeling powerful within yourself also comes from being knowledgeable and becoming an expert at what you do.

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” Anthony J. D’Ángelo

Empowering yourself by constantly learning is a wonderful strategy for increasing your confidence levels. As you build your competency levels and knowledge base, you naturally become more confident.

When you become an expert in your field, others want to know you and learn from you. You gain a measure of respect and this in itself is a confidence booster.

12. Do what you have been putting off for so long

Procrastination is a killer of dreams and the art of keeping up with yesterday. What’s on your list of things to do you have been putting off? More importantly, why are you putting it off?

“Procrastination is like a credit card; it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”- Christopher Parker.

When you do first thing in the morning what you have been putting off, it immediately eliminates stress. As a result, you feel better, more confident and ready to make the day instead of the day making you.

When you procrastinate, this slowly eats away at your confidence because every time you put something off, you lose a little more confidence to tackle the task. By taking immediate action, you learn to control any negativity associated with procrastination. When you let go of the negativity, instantly you allow achievement thoughts to overtake your subconscious. With achievement, you gain self-esteem.

Finally…

These killer ways to boost your confidence and self-esteem are not a quick fix. You can’t lose 10 pounds by dieting for one day. It takes time, perseverance and a positive mindset to increase your confidence and self-esteem. As long as you don’t quit, you will gradually see a change until one day you won’t recognize the new you.

On a final note

What you do today determines all of your tomorrows. Invest in your self and you will create the future you dreamed of.

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Carolyn Landesman

Carolyn (Caro) is an inspirational leader, motivator and founder of Strategez for Success. Caro holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), is a Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Sales Trainer, Business Coach and published Author. She provides easy to follow Strategez to help you achieve your personal, professional and business goals.